8/2/2017

Interview x Tasya van Ree

Tasya van Ree is an artist, photographer, and co-founder of Women with Superpowers. She flows between all of her worlds with a grounded strength that is incredibly unique. I met Tasya first time a few seasons back at an artist gathering in Los Angeles and I was instantly struck by her calm and steady presence. You know that feeling when you meet someone in a large group and they are only slightly paying attention to the introduction? Tasya is the opposite. You can feel her with you in that moment, and it’s really powerful.

After that gathering I went home and took a deep dive into her artwork and everything started to make sense. Looking at her work I felt the attention, focus and patience she describes in our interview. Tasya’s approach to life is imaginative, mindful and all about trusting what the universe has in store. She is the epitome of an introspective creative and is one of the most deeply passionate and embodied women you will ever meet.

I’m obsessed with your Drawn From Nature series. Will you share a bit about your process with us?I begin with opening myself up to an imaginative landscape of formless ideas. Where I situate myself in a great space, wide and open. And I stand there, waiting for a falling star to land on my blank piece of paper. There is a great deal of patience and concentration that is necessary here, an inherent focus and discipline. I love this solitude. The disconnection from the outside world. The quietness that resonates and inspires. I can hear my imagination clearly and can highlight the important parts so that I can translate them with simplicity and color. In this series, I wanted to cross-pollinate Nature’s decoration with human emotion, creating an agreement between both sources. A subtle relationship that intricately intertwined with one another.

Dreams are steady influence in your artwork. Describe a recent dream that inspired you.I dreamt in slow motion the other night where everything was the color of azure mist. It was a simple dream but left such a sweet taste in my heart when I woke up.

I am fascinated by the connection between horses and women and their innate capacities for intuition. How are you deepening your relationships to these subjects through your practice?That’s the beauty of art, you can create a world of silent communication and develop a relationship with whatever it is that you want to understand. I’ve been exploring the connection between nature and the universe for a while now through my art, and slowly, it’s opening up a real love for life and my own presence within it.

What motivates you to create?The idea of splendor and deep abstraction.

Name the last art show that moved you.Yassi Mazandi’s group show “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could dream together.” I just love her work. It’s filled with such authority and possibility in the most precise and structured way.

You started Women with Superpowers with Nitsa Citrine last year and just launched a new potion, Yin Power in collaboration with Sun Potion, what inspired these collaborations and how do you see them evolving?Our love for the feminine is what inspired the collaboration.
I would love to see it evolve in the same infinite vein as its energy.
The possibilities are endless.

What is your superpower?The ability to translate life through a poetic prism.

In order to grow as an artist one has to constantly take risks in their work, how does this translate into the rest of your life?It’s really about finding comfort in the unknown. Being able to exist in a space that you never knew existed. All of it unfamiliar and bare. Trusting that you will always be taken care of and that knowledge and wisdom lay on the other side. This is how I primarily live my life, through my art and also on a human, everyday level.

Describe the last time you were afraid and how you navigated it.The last year of my dog’s life was quite emotional for me. We were together for 17 years. During that last year, there was a perfect balance of the known and unknown. Which is beautiful and at the same time very intense. I remained extremely present and experienced each moment with a deeper perspective of the process of life and death and found love within it all.

Share a favorite quote or piece of wisdom you love.Today I went to the bookstore and purchased a few books. Among them was “MAN RAY: Writings On Art” and found a quote that I loved and resonated with when I was flipping through the pages… “Dreams are not titled.” Says it all.

Do you make time for meditation or reflection? What does that look like?Every moment I sit down at my drawing table and work. This looks like half of the day glorifying itself through time in sweet absence. It is a meditative exhibition of itself. There are no restraints, just malleable thoughts drifting in and out of consciousness, rearranging themselves precisely in various cells/molecules of my body. Becoming one with the value of understanding.

What is the last great book you read?Right now, I’m reading Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book The Gene which I’m really enthralled in and fascinated by.

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Comments

Thank you Tasya. This is such rich food for thought, I will be coming back to this often. I admire your openness to life and possibility. Your description of your creative process terrifies and thrills me. I feel expanded just having read about it :)